“Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'” (Matthew 25:45)

Your Grace,
Reverend Presbyters & Deacons,
Beloved Brothers & Sisters!

Last week, on the Sunday of the Last Judgement, we contemplated Christ’s words, above, in His teaching to us about the criteria by which we shall be judged at the Great and Awesome Judgement. Simply put, we shall be judged by how we helped one another as images of God, struggling in this earthly life.

We, Canadians, accustomed to cold, long winters live through them with the security of a heated, warm home, electricity to bring light to the dark, long nights, and natural gas to heat our food. In Ukraine, at this crucial time, for millions of people, this same cold manifests itself as darkness and cold homes without light and heat.

Today, your Metropolitan turns to you at a time when our ancestral homeland Ukraine and her God-protected people endure particularly difficult and challenging conditions. Russia is deliberately and systematically attacking Ukraine’s energy system throughout the cold, winter months. Brutal attacks on infrastructure are leaving millions of Ukrainians without electricity, heat, and water. Hospitals, shelters, schools, and kindergartens need immediate assistance just to survive the harshest of winter conditions.

Today, I bless and call upon all members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada to support the initiative – #WarmthForUkraine – launched by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Andriy Sybiha, in partnership with the Ukrainian World Congress. I call upon us to join UCC National and the Canada-Ukraine Foundation, and other community and church institutions who have already joined this initiative. The goal is to provide Ukraine with generators and heating equipment where it is vitally needed.

I wish to acknowledge with sincere gratitude those members and parishes of the UOCC who have already supported #WarmthForUkraine.

I bless and call upon the entire Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada to mobilize support as much as possible. For our brothers and sisters in Ukraine, this is one of the most important needs! Every contribution means light, warmth and a chance to survive the winter under the impossible conditions forced on the Ukrainian nation by Russian brutality.

In Christ, the Lord,

+ llarion, Metropolitan

Archbishop of Winnipeg & the Central Eparchy
Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada

 

Below, are links to the ways you can support this initiative:

Canada-Ukraine Foundation and CUF-UCC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal: www.cufoundation.ca

Here is a link to learn more about the #WarmthForUkraine initiative: https://tinyurl.com/yy7suc8d